Peanut Butter

Who else has heard of first coating the tongue with peanut butter before taking crushed pills in applesauce to keep from tasting them?

Sunset. As beautiful as the sunrise.

Today I was reminded of the important things in life, the beauty of dying, and why I may yet be a hospice nurse. One of the patients that has often been a source misery today showed me a glimpse of something beautiful. After months of health problems, being incompliant, and swinging from sweet to outright mean, this patient, along with family, decided not to go to extreme measures to prolong life.We often question why we must suffer and die. Facing death brings us up close with eternity and what really matters. Even for this patient, the concern was who would care for the family. To see this person show concern for someone other than self was like a sacred moment. Helen Keller once said: "Although the world is full of suffering, it is also full of the overcoming of it." What is overcoming suffering? It's something more than getting well and going home.There is so much more that could and should be said here. Perhaps you will fill it in for me?

Ever feel like this?

"It is a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no telling where you might be swept off to." Bilbo Baggins

McGregor's Garden

Here's my new house that I rent with some other girls! I didn't know how much I would love being in a house rather than an apartment!
We call it
"McGregor's Garden" after the couple we rent from. They live at L'Abri and bought it as a retirement home for a few years down the road. Until then, we get to enjoy this lovely, old house which is only a few blocks from the hospital where I work.In the "Secret Garden" are a couple of plots where I'm thinking of raising some herbs.
Here's a glimpse of the living room complete with a fireplace! I've never lived in a house with a fireplace, and what better place than Minnesota to have one!

Just off the kitchen is a little window seat area. Not pictured is the large unfinished basement with a washer and dryer and lots of storage space.

The kitchen even has a dishwasher. Imagine how spoiled I am going to get with a fireplace, washer, dryer, and a dishwasher! For now I am staying in a little room, which is great except there is only a tiny closet with hardly room for even my few summer clothes. Later in August or September, I'll probably move up to the large upstairs room. There will be room for a few people to sleep on the floor should I have visitors:-). It is also rather quiet, so it will be easier to sleep in the day if I work some night shifts. That was a bit difficult today with the sound of children saying, "A one, a two, a three!" They were trying to hula-hoop on the wooden floor in the living room! It was actually fun to hear the sound of happy children in the house, but I worked a double shift again then remembered that I have agreed to go out to breakfast with my friend, Bev. She then needed to get some groceries, so I got to be at 11:30am. I slept 4 hours, getting up two or three times as well.

I saw staffing problems like I've never seen before at work last night. I was scheduled to work from 3-11:30pm. Some time around 10pm, the charge nurse asked me if I would stay overnight. She wanted me to stay bad enough that she said I could do whatever I wanted to...have an assignment, fly on the floor (to help all of the other nurses), or be in a 1:1 with a confused patient. I chose to fly. Around 11:15pm, there was still no nurse to take most of my patients or my coworker's patients. She went to the front desk to ask about the next nurse. The charge nurse said there was no replacement. She had called all of our staff and was unable to get anyone. Basically, she could give the other nurses way too many patients, or we could stay, which is what we did. There were critical issues going on with three of the patients and another couple of unexpected things, so it was interesting.

What is Something Satisfying about Your Work?

That's right, it's question time again! I'm looking for thoughtful answers to this question. I have been thinking about it from time to time all year and even more recently as I have considered various work options. On August 7th, I celebrated my first year of working full-time by...working!Working is something all of us do in one form or another, so no one is exempt from thinking about this. I've asked friends, coworkers, patients, even strangers. Now I'm asking you!

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"It does not seem to be true that work necessarily needs to be unpleasant. It may always have to be hard, or at least harder than doing nothing at all. But there is ample evidence that work can be enjoyable, and that indeed, it is often the most enjoyable part of life."

(The real question is: am I in trouble for posting this picture of Mama and Daddy?)

"A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between his work and his play; his labour and his leisure; his mind and his body; his education and his recreation. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence through whatever he is doing, and leaves others to determine whether he is working or playing. To himself, he always appears to be doing both."

Francois Auguste Rene Chateaubriand

"Family"

The other night, my new roommates and I had a "family night." Some friends came over for dinner around the table and an evening of visiting, getting Internet fixed, and stretching. That's right, stretching. One of the guests is studying to be a physical therapist, and she taught me about stretching and various exercises. I think I need to follow up on that. A couple of days ago, I went over to help Sarah hang some pictures and just chat. Then, this evening, another Sarah had a friend and me over for supper and an evening of visiting, Boggle, and Settlers.

I just have to say that I have been tremendously blessed during these last few days. I am looking forward so much to this next year here in Rochester. Psalm 68:6 says, "God sets the lonely in families." In the absence of my own family, God is providing for my need for fellowship.

Busy Days

I moved into my new place, slept a night, worked 3pm-7am, slept 5 hours, worked 3pm-7am, slept, then talked on the phone for 3 hours with technical support for our new internet! The shifts as work went very well and were rewarding. My coworkers thought I must be hard up for money. I don't know exactly why I worked that much, but they needed extra help and I felt like it:) I had some great conversations with coworkers during those two shifts and had some interesting patients as well. The best part of all was that I had two Spanish speaking patients! The first night my coworker had one of the patients, but I helped out with him so much that they assigned him to me the next day. I absolutely LOVED using my Spanish. You know, I got so much reward out of those two 16 hour shifts I can't even explain it.

Note: there have been a few times that I share the wonderful things that happen at work and how much I love nursing, then a day or two later I want so badly to erase those posts! But you know, I never have:)

The talk on the phone with the last tech support man in India was quite interesting as well. We chatted about random things throughout our conversation, because sometimes I would be rebooting my computer or doing something that required waiting. Among other things, we talked about the rewarding aspects of our jobs, faith, atheism, and more. He is proud to be an atheist.

I think I'm going to love the house where I am living, but I obviously haven't gotten to spend much time here yet. Today I'm just going through files on my computer and backing things up in case I mess things up trying to get my internet to work. This evening I am going to the annual corn feed that a couple in my church does at their house. It's finally raining here!